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Esteve Corbera

Esteve Corbera

ICREA Research Professor, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, UAB

Biography

Esteve Corbera is an ICREA Research Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), where he co-chairs the Laboratory for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems in a Globalised world. He is an international development specialist by training, who studies how 'sustainable' land-use management programs impact livelihoods, resource management institutions and people's behaviour, mostly in the global South. His research has been instrumental to understand the implications of these 'sustainable' land-use programs for rural people and to draw policy recommendations. His most important contributions include mainstreaming equity and legitimacy considerations in climate mitigation initiatives, particularly carbon forestry offsets, and PES more broadly; arguing that such initiatives can contribute to enhance social and gendered inequality, by deepening uneven access to natural resources, when parachuted into rural contexts with insufficient knowledge of environmental and socio-political histories; discerning people's motivations to engage or reject such initiatives, and identifying the potential for motivational crowding; and co-developing state-of-the-art, research agenda-setting articles on REDD+, PES and bioenergy. More recently, he has also investigated rural change transitions, placing the focus on farmers' vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability, markets and conservation approaches, as well as he has interrogated the production of knowledge of international scientific endeavours.

Background and education

  • (2005) Phd in Development Studies, School of International Development, University of East Anglia
  • (2001) MSc in Renewable Natural Resources and Development, School of International Development, University of East Anglia
  • (2000) Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Management in Public and Private Administration, Social Psychology Department, Universitat de Barcelona
  • (1999) BSc in Environmental Sciences, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona

Awards

  • 2019, 2020. World's Highly Cited Researcher Ranking
  • 2017Honorable Mention in the City of Barcelona Awards, in the category of Environmental and Planetary Sciences for my contribution “to advance knowledge on forest governance for climate change mitigation in the global South”

Professional memberships & affiliations

  • Association of American Geographers (AAG)
  • International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
  • International Society of Ecological Economics (ISEE)
  • Environmental Science Professionals Association (COAMB)

Research

Research interests

  • Biodiversity Conservation
  • Ecosystem services
  • Climate change mitigation and adaptation
  • Political Ecology
  • Institutional Economics

Research projects

  • Socio-Environmental Vulnerability in rural Spain (SEVERAS)

  • Operationalising telecouplings for solving sustainability challenges related to land-use (COUPLED), EU - Marie Curie Innovative Training Network. Link

  • Conflict and Cooperation over REDD+ in Mexico, Nepal and Vietnam (CoCooR), NWO/DFiD Conflict and Cooperation in the Management of Climate Change Programme

  • The Rollout of Market-Based Environmental Management in the EU, National Science Foundation of the United States of America

Selected publications

  • Corbera, Esteve; Costedoat, Sébastien; Van Hecken, Gert; Ezzine‐de‐Blas, Driss

    .
    2020.Troubled Encounters: Payments for Ecosystem Services in Chiapas, Mexico.Development and Change,51 (1):167-195Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Martin, Adrian; Springate-Baginski, Oliver; Villaseñor, Adrián

    .
    2020.Sowing the seeds of sustainable rural livelihoods? An assessment of Participatory Forest Management through REDD+ in Tanzania.Land Use Policy,Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Calvet-Mir, Laura; Hughes, Hannah; Paterson, Matthew

    .
    2016.Patterns of authorship in the IPCC Working Group III report.Nature Climate Change,6(1):94-99Link
  • Corbera, Esteve.2015.Valuing Nature, Paying for Ecosystem Services and Realizing Social Justice: A response to Matulis (2014).Ecological Economics,110:154-157Link
  • Corbera, Esteve.2012.Problematizing REDD+ as an experiment in payments for ecosystem services.Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,4:612-619Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Schroeder, Heike

    .
    2011.Governing and implementing REDD+.Environmental Science and Policy,14:89-99Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Estrada, Manuel; Brown, Katrina

    .
    2010.Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries: Revisiting the assumptions.Climatic Change,100 (3-4):355-388Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Brown, Katrina

    .
    2010.Offsetting benefits? Analysing access to forest carbon.Environment and Planning A,42(7):1739-1761Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Brown, Katrina

    .
    2008.Building Institutions to Trade Ecosystem Services: Marketing Forest Carbon in Mexico.World Development,36(10):1956-1979Link
  • Corbera, Esteve; Brown, Katrina; Adger, Neil

    .
    2007.The equity and legitimacy of markets for ecosystem services.Development and Change,38(4):587-613Link

Other relevant information

  • World’s Highly Cited Researcher in 2019 (117 Spanish scientists in a list of 6216).
  • Honorable Mention in the City of Barcelona Awards, in the category of Environmental and Planetary Sciences for my contribution “to advance knowledge on forest governance for climate change mitigation in the global South” (2017).
  • Advanced Research accreditation by the Universities’ Quality Agency, Government of Catalonia, which recognizes outstanding research and teaching skills, and it is a formal requirement to apply for a professorship in Catalan universities (2017).
  • Visiting Fellow grant, Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University (2016).
  • I3 Program Award by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness, which recognizes excellence in research, and it is a relevant merit in Spanish universities’ competitive calls at professorial level (2015).
  • Tenured Assistant Professor accreditation by the Universities’ Quality Agency, Government of Catalonia, which credits remarkable research and teaching skills, and it is a merit to be considered when applying for a lectureship in Catalan universities (2013).
  • Tyndall Centre Prize to the best interdisciplinary paper - in World Development with Brown & Adger- (2009).
  • Lead Author in the ‘Sustainable Development and Equity’ chapter and Contributing Author to the 'Agriculture, Forestry and Land-Use' chapter of Working Group III, 5th Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2011-2014).